If you’ve been on the forums over the weekend you’ve probably noticed the pile of threads about the Kayle “remake.” I use quotation marks because, c’mon, a new passive and some late game nerfs and we’re calling it a remake? This is what took six months? The majority of the community seems as unexcited as I am. I think there are a couple reasons.

First, there is precious little to get excited about in the game right now. Everyone is waiting on Season 2 or waiting on Magma Chamber news, or waiting for something that changes gameplay in a significant way. The Kayle remake was at least something to get pumped up about in the interim. Even if it went well, though, it would just pull another champion into viability, which really doesn’t do a whole lot for the game’s longevity.

I think the biggest reason people are upset with the remake is that it’s going to be very easy to make Kayle either under or overpowered but nearly impossible to balance her. The fact that she can heal, speed boost, and make herself invulnerable means her carry potential better be in the toilet, but Riot is trying to give her something like 75 percent carry, 75 percent support power. While I think the idea of condensing two roles onto one champion is a good one, I’m not sure the game supports the change, at least not in its current state.

Supports are already a huge balance problem. Giving a support some carry power doesn’t resolve the issue, it makes things worse. Take away too much of Kayle’s damage, though, and she becomes horrendously unfun. She’s a terrible early game farmer as it is, which seems to point her toward support, but she doesn’t have the skills to truly support a team as needed.

I think Riot would have done well to scrap her kit entirely, think about what they really liked about the kit and kept it, and then built a champion from there. Is a targeted nuke/slow really an exciting ability? No – scrap it. Same for her ranged skill and her passive, old or new. Now you’ve got a champion with a heal/speed boost and a potent shield. It’s a nice setup for teamfighting, but how do you make her enjoyable in lane? Working with her existing kit makes for a really lackluster buff to an already underplayed champion.

Looks like the Kayle remake is finally set to go live with the next patch. Honestly, I’m not sure how I feel. I was a little disappointed at first because they aren’t changing much, but I also think Kayle has a kind of cool kit. She’s an odd champion for sure, and the update doesn’t make her any less odd.

Her passive has been remade into an armor/MR shred, which should be better than her current passive. She’s getting some mana cost buffs and base damage buffs to compensate for some of her scaling, which also should be a good thing. My biggest frustration/misunderstanding with Kayle is why she can build Righteous Fury into an “always up” skill. Just make her ranged and balance her around that. It isn’t interesting in any way that she can only sometimes be ranged from levels 1-9. Give her range and give her some balance around that.

I’m curious to see how the remake will play out, though. Honestly, I think most of the spotlight was education about the way Kayle works. Most people don’t know when to use Intervention, which is a big part of what makes her strong. Now that they know, will we see Kayle in the support lane?